HARRY POTTER and The Cursed Child is Magical
Broadway in Chicago’s Nederlander Theatre is full of magic and wonder with the HARRY POTTER and The Cursed Child. This will be the world premiere of the first-ever touring production based on the acclaimed Broadway production, currently playing at the Lyric Theatre, in New York.
The production begins where the last Harry Potter film “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows left off. It’s 19 years after Harry (John Skelly), Ron (Matt Mueller), and Hermione (Ebony Blake) saved the wizarding world by killing Voldemort. They are now sending their children to begin their schooling at Hogwarts.
Harry’s son Albus (Emmet Smith) is quite headstrong and isn’t great at following rules. He and Harry have a very rough, disconnected relationship. On their way to Hogwarts Albus befriends Scorpius (Aidan Close), the son of Harry’s rival, Draco Malfoy (Benjamin Thys).
This is where the magic begins. Albus and Scorpius have found a way to travel in time. The things they find out by traveling to the past and future change their present and future.
For me, the real stars are the illusions & magic by Jamie Harrison. I am still trying to figure out how the amazing illusions were done. I had the opportunity to speak with Ebony Blake (Hermione) about how it’s done, and she said, “I have so much respect for our illusions team. These people and they are professionals, create these illusions for many shows, not just ours, but also a lot of them are working illusionists and magicians in their own right. And they came in, and the way that they broke things down for us because I remember David Copperfield in the ’80s and the ’90s, and he made the Statue of Liberty disappear. But that’s pretty much… That was the extent of my magic education, and it’s just the way that they explain things to us. And a lot of the magic is based in Victorian magic, so a lot of it is humans and lights and shadow and what you can sort of get the eye to look at on the one hand while you’re doing something totally different and still telling the story and the way that your brain sort of fills in the gaps.”
The movement by Steven Hoggett is complex and amazing. I have to give it to the cast and the way they appear and disappear and are in continuous motion. They have to be exhausted by curtain call.
Hat’s off to Chicago actor Larry Yando who plays three roles, Dumbledore and Severus Snape and to the costume and make-up crew that totally transforms him to each character. Larry is such a great actor that he easily embraces every character. I love him as Severus Snape.
I love Ebony Blake as Hermione. Ebony, as you may figure, is a beautiful African American woman. Seeing a woman of color in this role was inspiring to many young people in the audience. She is a fantastic actress and brings the character to life.
Hermione from the Harry Potter books and film is described as a super smart girl with wild brown hair and maybe not very social. I asked Ebony how it was playing this iconic character and not looking like what people expect Hermione to look like. She responded, “Oh, I mean, I get emotional about it. It is such a joy and an honor and a blessing, and it’s one of those things, I know people come to the story, and they’ve either read all the books or seen all the movies. So it’s one of those things where it’s just like a lot of the homework is done for me before somebody even walks into the theater because they know what they know, but also they come in with a preconceived notion of what she should look like and what she should be, and then they see me. And so, then my joy is over those almost three hours, by the end of the show, I love it when people leave and they go, “She, that was Hermione. That was my Hermione.”
Ebony went on to say, “But the beauty and the joy is that I get to take all those snippets and all that information and then put it in my little cauldron and then mix a little bit of me in there, a little bit of that. And when people leave, they go, “Oh, you were so much like her in the books.” And that’s the biggest compliment to me.”
There are a few things that I wondered about such as the relationship between Harry and Albus. Why was Harry so distant from his son.
All in all, “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” is an entertaining evening of wonder and magic. There are twists messages and surprises throughout.
I give “Harry Potter and the Cursed Child” 4 out of 5 winks of the EYE!
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child will be at the Nederlander Theatre through February 1st, 2025. It’s a must-see.
Until next time keep your EYE to the sky!